Measure your program performance the right way
A comprehensive results framework and indicator plan to enhance your project impact
TolaData supports every step of your indicator plan, while giving you the flexibility to adapt it to your organisation’s workflow. Once you’ve added your programs and activities to TolaData, start incorporating your results framework and indicators into the platform. With that, you’re ready to collect data and monitor your progress.
Understanding results framework
A results framework is a visual representation of the flow of changes that you intend to deliver through your program in order to achieve your overall program goal. It is usually displayed in a box-and-arrow tree diagram with different levels, each representing a distinct change achieved through your program intervention.
Understanding results framework
A results framework is a visual representation of the flow of changes that you intend to deliver through your program in order to achieve your overall program goal. It is usually displayed in a box-and-arrow tree diagram with different levels, each representing a distinct change achieved through your program intervention.
Each program has its own way of defining each of these levels:
- Goal/Impact: overarching objectives of your program at the community, local, or national level
- Outcome/Intermediate results: longer-term change in the behaviour of program stakeholders
- Output: immediate effect of the intervention activities on the stakeholders
- Activities/Input: activities conducted directly by the program
Setting up your results framework
A key feature of the results frameworks is to always maintain a cause-and-effect relationship among each of its levels. ‘Activities’ should result in changes at the ‘output’ level which in turn should affect the ‘outcome’ level and so on. You will always need to check each level to see if the statement holds true – “IF [activity A] happens THEN [output A] will happen”. This helps to relate and link program activities to see its contribution to broader changes in the sector
Developing an indicator plan
Indicators are specific markers that measure the achievement of inputs, outputs, outcomes and impact of your programs. Each level of the results framework has specific indicators assigned to them to measure the success of the implementation work. This also helps to verify for example, if the output really brought about the changes in the next outcome level.
Results framework levels | Results framework description | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
Goal | Improved economic development of the community | % of population with increased productivity and income in the community |
Outcome |
Farmers have increased income
|
# of farmers with increased income
|
Output |
Farmers receive quality seeds and plants the seeds
| # of farmers using quality seeds
% increase in crop yields |
Activity |
Distribute quality seeds to farmers
| # of farmers receiving quality seeds |
Indicators provide an objective way of showing your program achievement and is extremely helpful in showing program success.
Setting up results framework, levels, and indicators are all made very easy by TolaData.
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